Heat pull away to beat Nets

NEW YORK — Bam Adebayo had 24 points and nine rebounds to lead the Miami Heat to a 106-93 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night.

Jimmy Butler added 17 points for Miami (3-1). P.J. Tucker finished with 15, and Tyler Herro and Dewayne Dedmon each contributed 14.

A preseason favorite to win the NBA championship, Brooklyn has alternated losses and wins through the first five games of the season and dropped to 2-3. Kevin Durant finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds.

Joe Harris contributed 15 points on 5for-15 shooting, including 5 for 11 from 3point range. With his third 3-pointer of the game, Harris passed Jason Kidd as the franchise’s career leader in made 3-pointers.

James Harden had 14 points and Bruce Brown chipped in with 12.

The first of four regular-season matchups between the Eastern Conference rivals was a contrast in styles, the flashy, up-tempo, high-scoring Nets against a physical Heat squad.

Despite forcing the Nets to play a possession-by-possession game for much of the first half, the Heat trailed 51-49 at the half. Miami had outscored Brooklyn in the paint (30-20), had more second-chance points (15-2), and had a decided edge in rebounds (35-25).

What the Heat did not have, though, was the tandem of Durant and Harden, who combined for 25 of Brooklyn’s 51 points in the half. Durant also grabbed eight rebounds while Harden added three boards and three assists.

Miami stayed with its approach and it paid dividends in the third quarter, as the Heat outscored the Nets 32-23 and took an 81-74 lead into the fourth. The Heat extended their lead to 88-77 before Brooklyn used a 7-2 spurt to cut the deficit to 90-84.

Following a timeout, Durant stared down Butler as he drilled a 3 to bring Brooklyn with three. That was as close as the Nets would come, as Miami pulled away, with Adebayo throwing down two thunderous dunks.

For the game, Miami outscored Brooklyn 48-34 in the paint, had 27 more secondchance points (31-4), and outrebounded the Nets 62-42.

WIZARDS 116, CELTICS 107

BOSTON — Montrezl Harrell scored 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting and had 11 rebounds in the Washington Wizards’ victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.

Spencer Dinwiddie added 22 points, and Bradley Beal had 17 for the Wizards. They have opened the season 3-1.

Jayson Tatum had 23 points for Boston, Dennis Schroder added 22, and Robert Williams III had 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Celtics has won back-to-back road games.

Washington center Daniel Gafford had to be helped off the court and was brought straight to the locker room midway into the second quarter and didn’t return. The team he had a right quadriceps contusion.

The 6-foot-10 Gafford collided with Boston forward Jaylen Brown and went to the floor, grabbing his right leg just out of bounds across from Boston’s bench. Brown immediately grabbed his right knee but stayed in the game.

Unlike Boston’s home opener when firstyear coach Ime Udoka said the Celtics got “punked” after a 32-point loss to Toronto, Boston rallied after falling behind by 15 points midway into the third quarter.